Need help identifying the irony of this poem. I think I am beginning to see it, but could use some fresh imput. Thanks.


The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry "'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!"
So your shimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved: so I said
"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

And so he was quiet, and that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, and Jack,
Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came and Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins and set them all free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing , they run,
And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.

Then naked and white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father, and never want joy.

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags and our brushes to work.
Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm;
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

I would focus on these enslaved children being told 'everything's all right- God loves you.'

pam

And by came and Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins and set them all free;

And ironic as well that one must die in order to be free?

I read somewhere that Blake intended a pun on weep/sweet, if that matters. I wonder about the name Tom Dacre. Dacre anagrams to 'cared', or 'raced', but I am not sure that has a bearing.

Thanks much. Your ideas have been very helpful. If anything else comes to you I have another day to work on this. I am very grateful.

Tiffany

The whole poem is ironic, in that it uses a friendly rhyme scheme and comforting, all’s-well story-telling style (the kind a parent or nanny in a rich household might use in reading a young child to sleep) to tell a ghastly story of child exploitation and misery. The real intent is to arouse horror and pity for the poor chimney sweeps. Blake’s punning “’weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” says it all.

There’s irony in the last two lines of the 2nd stanza: the proposition that losing your beautiful hair is a good way to protect it from being spoiled.

There’s also irony in the poem's last line. At first sight it appears to be expressing the same worthy message as the 23rd Psalm, that faith can overcome fear in the Valley of Death, but really it’s an expression of the chimney sweeps having been conned into believing that breathing and sleeping in soot won’t harm them so long as they don’t rebel against being required to do it.

The seed of that was planted in the last two lines of the preceding stanza. I don’t however think Blake meant to attack the idea of angels, or to blame this particular angel, who told of divine love and comfort for the innocent. Rather his anger was directed against society for perverting that message into a rationalisation for keeping slaves in their place.

Good point. The Shorter Oxford gives 'dacker' or 'daiker' as an intransitive verb, dating from the late 16th Century in Scotland and the north of England, meaning 'waver, totter, stagger, saunter, work irregularly, potter'.

Coincidence?



Post Edited (10-13-04 09:33)